Springfield, Requiem. … the American Hockey League announced it today Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Wranglers is the winner of the Aldije “Baz” Bastian Memorial Award As the AHL’s Outstanding Goaltender for the 2022-23 season.
The award is voted on by coaches, players and media in each of the league’s 32 cities. Wolf became the first goalkeeper to win the Bastien Trophy in consecutive seasons since its inception in 1984.
Wolf followed up his breakout rookie season with another stellar campaign in 2022-23, leading the AHL in every major statistical category including wins (with a 42-10-2 record), save percentage (. 932), goals against average (2.09) and closing (seven). Wolf also played more minutes (3,238), faced more shots (1,653) and made more saves (1,540) than any other goaltender in the league, and backed up the Wranglers in McGregor Kilpatrick Cup as AHL regular season champions. In addition to the Bastien Prize, Wolfe captured the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Awardgiven to the goalkeeper(s) on the team that allows the fewest goals in the regular season.
Also named a First Team AHL All-Star for the second year in a row, the 22-year-old Wolf has compiled a 77-20-6 with a 2.24 GAA, a 0.927 save percentage and seven shutouts in 105 AHL appearances. The Gilroy, California native was the seventh round pick by the Calgary Flames in the 2019 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut with the Flames on April 12, stopping 23 shots in a 3-1 win over San Jose.
This is the fourth year in a row that Wolf has won the league’s leading scorer award. He was awarded the Dale Wilson Trophy playing for Everett in the Western Hockey League in both 2019-20 and 2020-20.
The Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award, first presented in 1984, honors the former general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins Baz Bastian, who played four seasons in goal with the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL (1945-49) before suffering a career-ending eye injury. Bastian went on to serve as the head coach and general manager of the Hornets, leading them to the 1967 Calder Cup championship. Previous winners of the award are John Casey (1985), Sam Saint Laurent (1986), Mark LaForest (1987, ’91), Felix Botvin (1992), Corey Hirsch (1993), Jim Carrey (1995), Money Legas (1996), Martin Perron (1999), Dwayne Roloson (2001), Jason LaBarbera (2004, ’07), Ryan Miller (2005), Michael Layton (2008), Corey Schneider (2009), Jonathan Bernier (2010), Jake Allen (2014), Matt Murray (2015), Peter Budaj (2016), Troy Grosnick (2017), Garrett Sparks (2018), Alex Nedeljovich (2019), Kapu Kahkonen (2020) and Logan Thompson (2021).
The American Hockey League has been in operation since 1936, and continues its role as the top development league of all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are alumni of the AHL, and over the years the American Hockey League has been home to over 100 inducted members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The winner of the 2022-23 Garrett Memorial Dudley (Red) Award (Outstanding Freshman) will be announced on Thursday.